In October of last year, Southwest ran television promotions in Atlanta that advertised $59 fares to New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. The DOT's Aviation Enforcement ****** investigated the matter and found that the airline did **t actually have seats for that price between Atlanta and the listed cities for the advertised travel days.
This was the second time the airline had been fined by the DOT in the past year. The government had previously suspended the civil penalty against Southwest in August 2013, but said on Thursday that Southwest would have to immediately pay an additional $100,000 — half the fine issued in August — for violating the same regulation again within a single year. Read more...